bluetoothd high cpu usage

MacBook Pro 15" mid-2015 - Monterey 12.1- Same issue - excess CPU usage from bluetoothd process happening daily.

Deleting the com.apple.Bluetooth.*.plist file in ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/ directory and rebooting worked for me.

(* is a long string of letters / numbers). Issue has not returned for 3-4 days.

The "fix" I posted about on 1/22 seemed to work for 5 days then the 200% bluetoothd process cpu usage returned. I installed the 11.2 update and hopefully that will fix this bug. (Mid 2015 MacBook Pro 15" BCM_20703A1 Bluetooth chipset)

Updated / Installed 12.2 - used the full installer over the previous 12.1). Again the problem returned after a few days. (Mid-2015 MacBook Pro 15") Seems happen after waking from sleep when raising lid) Only bluetooth accessory used occasionally with the MacBook are AirPods. Tried deleting all paired bluetooth devices and deleting 'com.apple.Bluetooth.plist' with a restart - no change. Issue returned next day. I read that "With Monterey, Apple has completely rewritten the bluetooth stack" so this is likely a bug with certain bluetooth cards used in these notebooks.

MacBook Pro 2015 with Monterey 12.2. Once I connected Logitech M535 mouse I started seeing this same issue with bluetoothd consuming 200+ CPU after opening up laptop lid if mouse is far away from the laptop.

Disconnecting and forgetting the mouse seems to solve the problem.

MacBook Pro Mid 2015. Problem persists even after update to Monterey 12.2.1. High CPU usage appears inconsistently and only once per day, directly after opening the lid in the morning. Manually quitting the process bluetoothd in Activity Monitor resolves the problem at least until the next morning. Fortunately and easy fix but remains a huge annoyance.

Miago - The high cpu is caused by a blutetoothd process bug. Apple released the 12.2.1 update Feb 10th which is supposed to fix bluetooth battery drain issues. (which a maxed-out CPU would cause) Try updating. I had this issue with a mid-2015 MacBook Pro. So far so good here...

Thanks, shott85, this sounded interesting. I disabled the two options in the preferences. But after two days high CPU usage of bluetoothd reappeared just like before. So unfortunately, this approach does not solve the issue, at least not for me.

I experimented by connecting an external monitor and bluetooth mouse I am using throughout the day and got some change in CPU usage. But I need to test more to find out what is affecting the problem with bluetooth. It is difficult to test because it is a rare problem and will take days or weeks to learn more. I will report back in case there are any updates.

Hey folks, I too can confirm that the solution I shared doesn't work. The issue returned a few days later :-(

For what it's worth, simply opening Bluetooth Preferences causes the bluetoothd process to stop freaking out (on my end).

I'm hopeful that Apple fixes this in the next OSX update because Bluetooth is a core function and no one enjoys loud fans, hot laps, and dead batteries.

Excellent summary from tree_frog above

MacBook Pro mid-2015 MacOS 12.2.1 - Tried all the suggested 'fixes" indicated and the bluetoothd process using 200%+ cpu issue would randomly reoccur. I thought this could to be tied to an open lid / wake from sleep issue which is one of the functions the System Management Controller (SMC) controls. I did a SMC & NVRAM (PRAM) reset per the Apple instructions. My MacBook worked normally for 4 days then the bluetoothd issue popped up again.

Until a system update fixes this - a suggestion is to take a look at installing iStat Menus. One of the myriad of options available is to put a CPU percentage used value in the menu bar. If you see a high reading persist you can click it and see the top 5 processes currently running - and bluetoothd will probably be at the top of the list. As we know toggling bluetooth off and back temporarily stops the problem. This is way faster than going to Activity Monitor to see what's going on or waiting to hear the fans spin up. (I have no affiliation the company that does iStat Menus)

Yes, we need to wait until Apple fixes the issue in an upcoming macOS update. Until the fix arrives, I do the following as a workaround. (The workaround is preventive in nature, and it works for me.)

Since the issue occurs after a wake from a long sleep, I toggle bluetooth off just before I close the lid at night. Next day, when I open the lid in the morning, I toggle the bluetooth back on.

It looks like the wake event triggers the issue after a long sleep, when the bluetooth is enabled.

I also have the same problem with MacBook Pro 2015 and macOS Monterey V 12.2.1.
A fix should be created for this as soon as possible, 
because the only way to reset the CPU load to normal is to turn the MacBook off and on again.
Greetings Andreas Frerichs

Macbook Pro Mid 2015, MacOS 12.2.1, SSD Samsung 970 Pro (old) --> SanDisk Extreme Pro (new)

The problem seems to have disappeared for me. At least I did not have any Bluetooth issues for more than seven days. Two things happened that could have been the "fix":

* I had troubles with my SSD for some time, all connected to wake-up just like the Bluetooth issue. The late stage included regular NVMe kernel panics during wake-up. I believe this was a result of a severe bug in the TRIM implementation of Samsung SSDs described here: https://github.com/dortania/bugtracker/issues/192 To avoid further troubles, I replaced the Samsung SSD with Sandisk (see above).

* As a result of the SSD replacement, I had to install MacOS cleanly and migrate data from backup. After this, the system started acting much better, including the side effect that the Bluetooth issue was gone.

This leads me to two questions:

(1) Did anybody experience the Bluetooth issues disappear after a complete reinstall (i.e. wipe SSD, install MacOS, migrate from backup)?

(2) Those of you that have the Bluetooth issue, did you replace your Apple NVMe SSD with an SSD that suffers the TRIM bug (link above)?

In the case of (1), there is hope to fix Bluetooth by a complete reinstall. Plus, an upcoming MacOS update, e.g. 12.3, could address the issue. In the case of (2) being the root cause, future MacOS updates will likely not be of any help.

Disregard my earlier speculation. It was not a hardware issue and not solved by a complete reinstall. Today, no the eight day, the Bluetooth issue reappeared.

But I reappeared when I was have Bluetooth connected (AirPods) in the evening right before the system went so sleep. This was not the case in any of the seven days before. Maybe have Bluetooth active when going to sleep (and not finding the hardware when waking up? Because the AirPods were then in their case.) is a prerequisite for the Bluetooth problem to appear.

I also discovered that when Bluetooth is at 200%, just opening Bluetooth preferences crashes and restarts the Bluetooth process, also solving the high CPU issue.

Oh well... we will have to wait for MacOS 12.3 and hope it solves this MacOS bug. I hope nobody already tried to reinstall their system or ordered hardware inspired by my post.

Same here - I just submitted a bug report to Apple with a link to this discussion. MacBook Pro 11.5, one week on a clean SSD with a fresh install of Monterey (12.2.1) (not an upgrade from prior OS - I installed to a blank SSD).

The next MacOS Monterey 12.3 update went to the RC release candidate stage on Tuesday 3/8. I've heard this update appears to resolve the bluetoothd process bug. History suggests this update could be released any day now - probably early next week.